FLO have ended the year on a high with their first Grammy nomination – Best Progressive R&B album for UK Top 3 LP Access All Areas. Here's a chance to revisit our cover feature from one year ago with the British group, who recently appeared at a Universal Music Group UK showcase in LA to highlight UK talent...
Ever since FLO exploded onto the scene in 2022, the clock has been ticking down towards the release of their debut album. Now, a little later than planned, Access All Areas is due, its arrival promising not only a landmark moment for UK R&B, but the coronation of the trio’s emergence as a global proposition. Music Week meets Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer, plus Island EMI and UROK Management, to venture inside a rollercoaster breakthrough story and hear how they have taken control of their destiny…
WORDS: YEMI ABIADE
It’s mid-morning in New Orleans, and the glare of the sun is so bright that the three members of FLO have to draw the curtain behind them as they settle in for their first chat with Music Week since 2022.
We start with a recap of the beginning of their two-month excursion in the United States. They’ve been supporting US superstar Kehlani and the show in Miami, the next stop, has been cancelled due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, which has swept through Florida. Granted a couple of days off, Stella Quaresma, Jorja Douglas and Renée Downer appear rested, enjoying their stop in The Big Easy. Especially the food.
“They didn’t lie about how good those beignets are!” Downer exclaims, her eyes lit up like a slot machine as she talks about the sugary, deep-fried local pastries.
FLO’s dynamic is gripping. Each member gives the others the space to let their thoughts flow, listening intently and chiming in only during a natural conversational gap. At one point, Downer gets tongue-tied saying Cardboard Box – the viral 2022 single that put their talents on the map – and Douglas’ eyes meet hers, prompting laughter.
“Almost got me!” Downer remarks, suggesting an inside joke. But they’ve got each other’s backs: this is a sisterhood that goes beyond their time in the spotlight, which has been something of a whirlwind.
Since taking social media by storm with Cardboard Box (which has 227,570 sales according to the Official Charts Company), FLO have been seeking to redefine the modern girl group. With their textured, angelic vocals and music videos channelling the heyday of UK and US ensembles – from Sugababes to Destiny’s Child – the trio carry a nostalgic but forward-thinking feel that has excited fans and critics alike. What’s more, they scooped the 2023 Rising Star Award at the BRITs and topped the BBC Sound poll in the same year.
Now, their debut album Access All Areas (due via Island EMI on November 15) is near, described by president Louis Bloom as “truly outstanding, the first step in their quest for world domination”. Bloom also divulges that he’s targeting a second BRIT for FLO in 2025.
The trio have around two million monthly listeners on Spotify and 16.7m TikTok likes, and all the hallmarks of a British breakthrough-in-the-making appear present and correct. But, with all three aged just 22, they are pushing for much more.
“We definitely feel appreciated, but it depends on how you measure your success,” Douglas offers. “It’s very real for us in terms of knowing this is our job and there are markers that we need to meet. In terms of finances, numbers and all of that stuff, that kind of dictates how we perceive if we’ve blown up or not. We’re not comparing ourselves to our peers in terms of talent, but we see their numbers and wealth. So I think that’s why we don’t necessarily think that we’ve blown up, but we’re really happy with what we’ve created so far.”
Make no mistake, these are not three young women searching solely for riches or financial freedom, but a group with dreams of lasting power in the music industry. Since their arrival, they’ve ushered in much change in their team, reshaping it together.
“We’ve definitely had our challenges, but us as a group have worked so well from the start,” Douglas continues. “We’re so grateful for that aspect that it diminishes all the other problems. Because, really, our relationship with each other is the priority, and there’s no complaints there.”
Quaresma continues, reflecting on FLO’s early success.
“If anything, it has helped us,” she says. “It gave us that push at the start and that sense of, ‘OK, something’s going right’. We’ve made the right decisions, so it just egged us on, really. I don’t think it’s added a sense of pressure. We put pressure on ourselves, but it’s a healthy pressure.”
“We’ve learned to take matters into our own hands,” Douglas returns. “It’s our career, we’re the ones in front of the camera, on the stage, behind the mic. So, really, we need to use our voices. If we’re not comfortable with something, it’s on us to let that be known. FLO is very much our vision, so it’s about being confident in that vision, knowing what we do and don’t want and just being confident in our dream.”
FLO’s music is edgy, playful and confident; they craft emboldening anthems for women trying to find their personal worth, irrespective of the world around them. Cardboard Box, for instance, is as stark as ever in its proclamation that a woman isn’t defined by the man in her life and can take back her agency. Meanwhile, Summertime is an ode to the quality time only a group of women can appreciate, living and enjoying life. Their songs are extensions of their individual personalities, giving the music an extra dash of pomp, their friendship in beautiful harmony on record.
It helps that the girls had known each other before FLO; Downer and Quaresma attended London’s Sylvia Young Theatre School and knew Douglas through auditions and social media. When Island A&R consultant Rob Harrison (who initially managed the group through his Listen Generously business) brought them together as FLO in 2019, the jigsaw pieces started to fit.
“We’ve been together for over five years, and I remember at the beginning we wanted to release music a lot earlier than we had done,” Downer reflects. “We were like, ‘Why are things taking so long?’ But because we were quite young, we definitely needed that growing time.”
“When we met Jorja, Renée and Stella for the first time we saw the chemistry between them and knew immediately that what they had together as FLO was incredibly special and unique,” says Island EMI president Louis Bloom, who has overseen the group’s development since they signed to the label in 2019. “They are the CEOs of FLO and it was clear they shared a vision. Their music is a brilliant intersection of classic R&B with massive pop appeal and [we knew] it had the potential to speak to fans who haven’t had a young, exciting, powerful female group to follow in such a long time. What makes FLO such an authentic group and why fans and tastemakers have been huge believers is because they are inspirational, and yet totally relatable.”
Relatable and headstrong. In Music Week’s On The Radar feature in 2022, they suggested they had “a vibe that says we can’t be messed with”. It was an indication that, rather than the sometimes orchestrated feel of put-together music groups of the past, FLO stand for themselves, each other and their ambitions.
“We were talking facts!” Douglas quips, when we present their quote back to them.
“We are young Black women, so it’s very important that our voices are heard,” Downer says, picking up the thread. “Everywhere in the world, if you’re Black, if you’re a woman, the odds are stacked against you. FLO comes first and this is what we want to do. You can come on board and help us execute it, but that’s how we work.”
Sam Eldridge of UROK Management has been inspired by their desire to better themselves and show off their aspirations in their music.
“I think as a manager your job is always to facilitate the artist’s vision and what I’m so proud of is helping FLO to really articulate their vision,” he tells Music Week. “Not an industry vision of who they are or what they can be, but truly their own. I think what they stand for as three young women is immensely powerful and the fact they are doing that on a global level and we are still just getting started is the definition of success at this point.”
FLO have embraced the confidence that has come with their growth so far, setting the stage for their debut, but it has taken a while to get to this point. Originally slated for release in 2023, the girls pushed it back, citing an epiphany moment that changed their creative direction. Working with Republic, Island’s US label partner, gave the girls access to new insights, allowing them to reimagine their creative scope.
“When we made a decision to broaden our team and start working with people in the USA, we really had a rude awakening with the level that we’re trying to reach,” Douglas explains. “I think being a UK girl group, the standard is low, to be honest with you, as far as labels’ perception of R&B [goes]. So upon working with people in the industry who are based in the USA, it was made clear to us that we’re on a level, so the music needs to match that level.”
Her explanation of the thought process behind taking longer with the music is refreshing, not to mention unflinchingly honest.
“We are capable of [making] our music a lot better,” Douglas continues. “And [realising] that was really insightful and helpful, because looking back, what we had initially planned for the album was a little bit shit. Not just the quality of the music, but as far as an actual story goes and creating a concept for the album. So they really helped us achieve what we wanted.”
Inspired to regroup and refocus, FLO channelled their newfound zeal to craft an opus that speaks to their attitude and potential. The result is an album sonically packed with old-school sensibilities – from soul to peak ’90s R&B – but with vocal tones, performances and lyrics espousing growth, self-worth and desirability. Executive production by MNEK – the group’s go-to partner from the start – gives the record a richness and consistency, honing in on a musical chemistry that has brought them to the brink of a breakthrough.
“MNEK is incredibly talented,” Douglas gushes. “The way that he has shaped our sound in terms of the standard for harmonies, we could have never done that without him. We could have tried, and it wouldn’t have been bad, but the quality he produces and has shared with us has really helped us a lot.”
A debut album from a budding artist or group brings with it untold expectancy; a crowning moment that hopefully crystallises their promise. Access All Areas has the feel of a record from three women reaching the top of their game.
“The new album means a lot to us,” Downer says. “It’s literally our baby and we didn’t want to rush it. We wanted her to be right and feel confident that every song is a 10 out of 10. In our opinion, the album is perfect. We hope that it just shows people what we’re capable of, shows people the future of R&B music, shows our worth and that we really study this. We care about all the little details.”
Douglas then relays the approach to the album’s standout final track, Just A Girl, an incendiary dressing down of the UK music industry and it’s marginalising of Black female artists. On the track, Downer sings, ‘Time for a breakdown/How many Black girls do you see on centre stage now/Yet you wonder why they going to the States now/But I ain’t throwing shade now.’ Though fiery in execution, the track had an altogether different initial vibe.
“It was about sex and how it doesn’t have to be deep,” Douglas says, as Quaresma and Downer chuckle. “But really that doesn’t align with us – it’s actually very much deep, and that’s fine! MNEK heard the song after we had written it and had the magical foresight to be like, ‘How can we actually make this FLO?’ Even though we wrote it, he knows us better than we know ourselves sometimes. So, he spun it around with Renée and made it a journal about our true feelings.”
Despite the history of unacceptable treatment of Black female artists – from Beverley Knight remarking that her skin was “maybe too dark” for her to be successful in the early 2000s, to Alexandra Burke saying she was urged to bleach her skin after winning The X Factor – FLO stress that part of their progression has transcended their skin tone.
“The main issues have actually been, one, because we’re a group, and two, because we do R&B,” Quaresma shares. “[People] in the UK are just not well-versed in it and your team has to have the same visions and ambitions as you. That’s where we kind of hit a wall a little bit. I’m not sure it’s so much because we’re women, because we’re Black, [but] I think it definitely can be and maybe subconsciously it is, which is not good.”
“It just hasn’t been direct,” Douglas interjects. “Maybe some inappropriate comments, like being too ‘churchy’ or along those lines. But we’ve never experienced anything that’s made us feel bad about being Black.”
As her bandmate finishes, Quaresma offers an emphatic quip.
“Everyone would know if we had!” she says.
Another crucial backdrop to FLO’s career is their stance on standing up for UK R&B. Debate persists in this country about the merits of the genre in the present day, with many onlookers and commentators claiming it’s in a poor state, with a lack of new stars coming through. But some see this merely as lazy analysis portraying a lack of understanding of the nature of the scene and much has been made about FLO flipping the narrative. Sam Adebayo, A&R at Island, is stark in his assessment of their impact.
“In the context of UK R&B, FLO bridge the gap between the polished, harmony-driven R&B sound, with the more grounded, gritty UK influences,” he explains. “UK R&B has always had an undercurrent of rawness, often blending in elements from other local genres, and FLO taps into that by keeping their lyrics and themes real and relatable. They are the future of UK R&B.”
Sam Eldridge adamantly concurs.
“They are already the group that has put UK R&B on the global map,” he surmises.
But FLO want more representation for their peers. Those who, like them, have put in the hard yards to prove UK R&B has a pulse, and a healthy one at that.
“We know that there are so many people that make R&B music that can really sing and deserve a platform,” Downer opines. “People like Shae Universe, Bellah, Mnelia, Odeal, Jvck James, Sasha Keable. Our hope is that the bigger we get, the bigger spotlight we can shine back on the UK and let other people know about this scene, and hopefully that can inspire labels to take on R&B artists.”
FLO’s duality as an R&B girl group is not lost on them either, and Downer, Quaresma and Douglas are finding their own meaning of a girl group in the modern day, a milieu dictated by virality and online buzz. They’re slowly, but surely, writing their own handbook, cautiously scribbling notes on those who came before.
“It’s been a while since there’s been a big girl group in the UK,” Downer says. “We don’t know what works today, because everything is always changing, things like social media. There’s no formula for success for us right now, so we had to go through new experiences and go through them with our team.”
“We can’t look at the Spice Girls’ journey, take that and apply it beat for beat,” Douglas says. “We can definitely apply some things – if anything, it’s even better to be able to look at all the girl groups and cherry pick what worked for them and what can relate to us.”
Meanwhile, FLO’s journey to their debut album comes against the backdrop of Island’s recent successes. The label, which won the A&R award at this year’s Music Week Awards, has secured No.1 albums and singles with The Last Dinner Party, Hozier, Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan and a Mercury Prize triumph for English Teacher in September. Not to mention the continued rise of Nia Archives, Lola Young, Dermot Kennedy, Sports Team and, of course, FLO themselves.
“It has been an incredible few years,” Bloom reflects, as he looks to the future for both FLO and Island EMI. “It’s testament to the team that we are delivering act after act across genres. I’m so proud to now be leading EMI forward, with Island. The EMI team are exceptional and have had the most spectacular, unprecedented year with Taylor Swift. The collaboration between the two labels has already been inspiring to watch. We’re not just competing with other UK labels – we want to compete on the world stage.”
Throughout FLO’s story, the thread of America is an important one. And there are several nuances.
Their fanbase there is seemingly growing by the day and Louis Bloom calls it their “biggest territory”, while the band note a recent highlight with their pop-up in New York. A video on their Instagram page showed exceptionally long queues of excited FLO Lifers (the name of their fanbase christened by the ladies themselves) waiting for their idols.
They’ve also gained friends in high places. Hip-hop icon Missy Elliott featured on 2023 hit Fly Girl (113,642 sales); Brandy, SZA, Victoria Monét and Ariana Grande have shown support, as well as Kelly Rowland, of Destiny’s Child fame, whose DNA is evident in the girls’ music.
“The US has completely embraced them and that’s a huge credit to the team at Republic who have understood how to place them in the right spaces,” Sam Eldridge says. “Wasserman [FLO’s agent] have put them in great touring positions and Island have been unwavering in their support and commitment.”
All of which begs the question, can FLO do what many British acts have tried, and truly make it in the States?
“I think the reason why we’re [in America now] is because this is where we’re being appreciated,” Douglas says. “Most of the time, people aren’t even aware that we’re British. We’ve never steered away from that, we embrace being British, you can hear it as soon as we open our mouths. But it’s just the music and the standard being the focus. We’re operating to a different standard over here, and that is what is creating this path for us.”
With plenty of vigour in her voice, she makes a bold declaration.
“I think we can break America, 100%,” she says. “They seem to want it. So bring it on, let’s go!”
Douglas’ convictions are taken up a notch by Bloom, who sees incredible potential for a long-lasting legacy Stateside.
“The level of fandom in the US is escalating fast and is incredible to see,” he says. “I was speaking to Avery Lipman [Republic president and COO] recently and he summed it up brilliantly when he talked about their ‘unusual and exceptional fandom – it’s real and different and you can feel it.’”
Bloom also lists Brazil and the Philippines as examples of their “tangible global consumption, genuine heat and massive fan engagement”.
World building is certainly key to the FLO experience. From the enthusiasm of the FLO Lifers, to their perfectly curated social media channels, you get an instant feel of the fun and colour that comes with the package.
Their ever-evolving team has been of particular influence. They’ve alluded in previous interviews to people around them not suiting their goals, yes-men telling them what they want to, rather than should, hear.
FLO have prioritised finding peace with the people around them. Now, in Eldridge, Bloom, Island EMI managing directors Nicola Spokes and Lucy Dann, A&R Adebayo, plus their vocal coaches and tour managers, FLO feel safe in the knowledge that those around them want the very best for them.
“It has just been about finding people with the kind of proactivity we want,” Douglas says. “There’s almost a checklist. Communication is everything to us, we’re constantly asking people to include us and communicate. If you do that, we’re all on the same page and then there’s no need to be pissed off because we’re aware of everything. Now, we can navigate things together.”
Douglas stresses the importance of complete control.
“We’ve got ideas and stuff that needs to be done, so the people around us need to be jumping on them and making that happen,” she says. “Taste is everything in R&B and trusting that people have the right taste is key, because that then is going to reflect where they see us and what they’re imagining for us.”
As we wrap up, the glow in their smiles rivals that of the fierce New Orleans sun. Their past has made them ecstatic for their future, and with their debut album en route, the USA – and the world – increasingly on their side and the urgency to get to work, FLO will saunter on, undefined by their past struggles. Shedding skin has given them a sense of renewal and, wherever they’re headed next, a team effort is assured.
“We’re surrounding ourselves with people that are ready to fight,” Douglas says. “So the future is looking hopeful because we feel like we’ve got people that are going to help us now.”
“We’re excited for the album to come out,” Quaresma concludes. “People are going to see where we’re headed and where we want to go.”
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